After two weeks of care, rest and recuperation with the experts at the Hawk Conservancy, we received a call to say that it was time to set Kitty free.

Although she had been clipped by a car, luckily for her, she was just in severe shock and no bones had been fractured or broken. They kept her in until she was well on the road to recovery, feeding her up to give her a good chance of adjusting back in the wild. Then they put her in a much bigger enclosure for a couple of days to make sure everything was working properly, before giving us a call to come and pick her up.

I kind of imagined someone a little more qualified would be coming with us to let her go, but in the end (and quite sweetly) it was just us (and Granny who was with us when we found her!).

one last check on the scales

We turned up before the Hawk Conservancy doors opened to the public, and watched as she was carefully caught. Mr R was able to hold her before she was weighed (Red Kites like to play dead so this part of things is pretty easy – she looked a little like a frozen chicken lying on her back) and then it was time to box her up and get going.

the toddler helpfully demonstrating how to fly in case Kitty had forgotten (she hadn’t)

We drove back to the exact place that we found her, with her box carefully wedged next to the Toddler in his seat (not your typical back seat companion!). Once there we steadily lifted her box over the fence and into the field. The chances are that her partner (if she indeed has one) will have been continuously returning to look for her, so it was important to let her go back in familiar territory.

As Mr R carefully opened the lid, she played dead for a brief moment before realising she suddenly had her freedom back, giving us a quick flying display before disappearing out of sight. I am so glad we didn’t leave her to be hit by another car, and that she got to fly another day…

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Hi Emma, what a sense of achievement you must have felt to watch such a magnificent bird fly off into the wild again, knowing that without you and the lifesavers at The Hawk Conservancy the story wouldn’t have ended well.

Your Video is just lovely. She flew off so quickly we did not get a chance for any still pics. Well done Emma, it was on your insistence that she was rescued and luckily The Hawk Conservancy with its experts is only a few miles up the road. So all in all this beautiful bird was given a new life, the alternative if we hadn’t discovered her when we did, could have been disastrous. x